Wait, is it still morning? (No.) Where am I? (Bainbridge Island, in a yurt.) Whose pants am I wearing? (Mine, but they're filthy.) I'm still a little hungover from all the good times I imbibed last night at the Offbeat Empire's party at Raygun Lounge in Seattle.

Remember the Offbeat Empire party fall of 2011? That was fun, wasn't it? In the spirit of that good time, we're going to be getting involved with more actual REAL LIFE events this year, starting with a reader meet-up in Seattle next month…

Last week I headed to Vegas for the Wedding Merchant Business Academy conference. I was joined by Megan (Offbeat Bride's managing editor, and my Associate Publisher), and two of our favorite event planners, Kelli from Seattle's Shindig Events and Laura from LA's Rebel Belle Weddings. In this post, I tell you why I'm bailing on my chromebook, who the rudest people at the conference were, and how you can get your own Offbeat Bride octopus temporary tattoo.

Big announcement! I've been booked to speak this fall at the Wedding MBA Conference in Las Vegas, October 2-4. This is a conference for wedding vendor types, and since it's more on the onbeat end of the spectrum, my talk will be angled towards explaining to these more traditional vendors why Offbeat Brides are awesome.

If any of y'all wedding business types are interested in attending, I've got a discount for Offbeat Empire readers!

About

The Offbeat Empire is a Seattle-based digital publishing company catered to nontraditional types working their way through the traditional passages of life -- creating a home and committing to a partner.

We want to help our one million monthly readers find ways to express their truest, most authentic, badass selves.